Will.i.am has been crowned tech personality of the year at the tenth annual T3 magazine awards, which saw the Apple iPhone named as gadget of the decade.

Virtual Reality (VR) headset HTC Vive also triumphed, taking home three awards from the ceremony in central London – gaming product of the year, innovation of the year and gadget of the year.

The iPhone picked up the gadget of the decade award, a one-off prize to mark the tenth anniversary of the T3 awards. It beat the iPad, PlayStation 3 and Netflix to take the top spot.

iphone 7
iPhone picked up the gadget of the decade award (Yui Mok/PA)

But the phone of the year went to Samsung’s Galaxy S7 Edge, which saw off stiff competition from HTC, Apple and Google.

Tech giant Samsung also scooped the brand of the year award, and its Gear S2 smartwatch won the wearable technology category.

International recording artist will.i.am, who founded tech company i.am+, attended the ceremony at the Royal Horticultural Halls to collect his award.

Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia, was given the tech legend award and Eben Upton, founder of personal computer Raspberry Pi, was recognised for his outstanding contribution to tech.

Will.I.Am with his award
will.i.am attended the ceremony at the Royal Horticultural Halls (Ian West/PA)

Rob Carney, editor of T3, said: “It’s incredible to look back over the past 10 years of tech and see how it’s changed and influenced the world we live in. Apple’s iPhone is a more than worthy recipient of gadget of the decade – it paved the way for all modern smartphones.

“The past 12 months have, once again, not failed to amaze us. VR has truly impacted in a big way, the connected home is becoming ever more commonplace, and the incredible strides technology is making have enabled 100% battery-powered cars.

“It only brings excitement to what the next 12 months hold for us all.”

Microsoft Surface Book computers are displayed
Microsoft’s Surface Book won laptop of the year (Ted S. Warren/AP)

Other winners at the ceremony included Tesla, whose Model X won car of the year, and Sony, which won television of the year for its XD93 model.

Sky’s non-contract Now TV won streaming service of the year and laptop of the year went to Microsoft’s Surface Book.